Festival of Instrumental Music

Participating school groups will perform in 1 of 4 concerts in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.

• Acacia Concert: Tuesday 22 September 2026
• Banksia Concert: Wednesday 23 September 2026
• Jacaranda Concert: Thursday 24 September 2026
• Mimosa Concert: Friday 25 September 2026

All participating schools attend a preliminary rehearsal to prepare students for the concerts.

Sydney preliminary rehearsals will be held at Marsden High School (recorders) and Meadowbank Public School (strings), 6 Rhodes Street, Meadowbank.

• Acacia rehearsal: Tuesday 25 August 2026, 10 am to 1:30 pm 
• Banksia rehearsal: Wednesday 26 August 2026, 10 am to 1:30 pm 
• Jacaranda rehearsal: Thursday 27 August 2026, 10 am to 1:30 pm 
• Mimosa rehearsal: Friday 28 August 2026, 10 am to 1:30 pm

Non-metropolitan schools will either host or attend a 4-hour Regional preliminary rehearsal ('Cluster' rehearsal) with other nearby participating schools during Term 2 or 3, as negotiated with Luke Wallace.​​​​

• Participation fee of $42.00 per student will be payable upon acceptance into the program.
• A rural and remote subsidy of 25% will be offered to all students attending from rural and remote schools as identified by the department.

• At least one teacher from each participating school should attend the Festival of Instrumental Music – teacher professional learning workshop at the Conservatorium of Music on Wednesday 11 February (recorders) or Thursday 12 February (strings) 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
• All teachers from all public schools, regardless of their involvement in the festival, are welcome to attend these workshops. Please register by Friday 6 February 2026 using the Music teachers workshops 2026 – application form.
• A range of online resources will become available at the beginning of the year.
• Each participating student and teacher will receive a specially designed T-shirt to wear at the performance.

All school groups participating in the Festival of Instrumental Music combined recorder and string ensembles must be supervised by a responsible adult at both the preliminary rehearsal and the concert day. The adult needs to be on site for the duration of the rehearsal/performance and could be a teacher, peripatetic music tutor or parent volunteer. It is up to the school principal to decide which adult/s supervise the group, as with any school excursion. The cost of supervising adults' wages and/or casual release must be covered by the school.

In 2026 students may enrol in the Festival of Instrumental Music combined string ensemble as an individual string player. Students enrolled as individual string players will be supervised by an Arts Unit staff member at both the Sydney preliminary rehearsal (if applicable) and the concert. This initiative is designed to make the program more accessible to students who do not have a string program at their school, particularly students living in Regional NSW. A school may have up to 3 students enrolled as ‘individual’ string players – schools with 4 or more students participating must enrol as a school group.

In order to be eligible to enrol as an individual string player, a student must:

• be enrolled at a NSW public school for 2026 and have endorsement from the school principal to participate
• be having regular instrumental lessons on the violin, viola, cello or double bass
• be at a minimum standard of AMEB Grade 2 (or equivalent).

Applications for individual string players closed on Friday 5 December 2025.

Teachers interested in working on the Festival of Instrumental Music artistic or production teams should complete the State Music Festivals 2026 staff nomination form.

Applications are now open and will close on Friday 5 December (artistic team) or Monday 16 February (production team).

In 2026 performance opportunities are available for outstanding instrumental and vocal items at the Festival of Instrumental Music. These opportunities are open to all public school students and can include music ensembles of all sizes, including soloists and choirs. For more information, visit the Featured items for state music festivals page.